Of Sinners and Saints
by sunrise over boston
Summary: House can't help who he is. Neither can Wilson. But if this is going to work, there needs to be compromise. HW. Rated for safety.
1. Sin

**Notes: This is my first House fic, so feedback would be awesome.**

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**"_Hate the sin, love the sinner."-_Gandhi **

**Gluttony**

House is not a stupid man. He can easily tell it was not his name on the box of cookies he'd found. In fact it is Wilson's name, written clearly above a note saying 'Do not touch' in black marker. He honestly doesn't care. Serves Wilson right for leaving House unsupervised in his office when he ran out during one of their rare, at work make-out sessions.

He munches loudly; making sure crumbs fall onto the carpet. He hadn't been hungry when he found the cookies, but he is ravenous now. Maybe it's because all Girl Scouts secretly put drugs in their cookies so people will buy. House has a feeling it has more about the treats being Wilson's and the fact he wants to piss him off, just for the fun of it. (And the for the way his face goes all funny when he's mad at House.)

In a matter of minutes, House has finished the box and begins a search for the others he is sure Wilson has hidden, his stomach growling loudly.

**Envy**

House tries to act inconspicuous as he spies on Wilson in the cafeteria. The oncologist is chatting with a new, overly perky female nurse. The nurse, a blonde blue-eyed tart, laughs shrilly at something Wilson says, and then leans closer to him. Wilson either doesn't notice, or ignores it.

The mental image of bashing the nurse's skull with his cane becomes more appealing to House with each second that passes. He knows it's stupid to get jealous over some nurse who was trying to get a date Wilson. However, a corner of House's mind still wants to shield the other man and growl, _'Back off, bitch.'_

When the two leave, House stands and grimly goes to find out the nurse's name, fully prepared to introduce her to Hell, Greg House style.

**Sloth**

House lies in the bed until noon, though he is due at work by eleven. He is too comfortable to move, even after Wilson leaves for the hospital at nine and wakes him. _'If I'm really needed,'_ House reasons to himself, _'they would call'_.

By twelve-thirty, the blue-eyed man reluctantly leaves the bed and showers. House takes longer than he normally would, enjoying the pinpricks of hot water on his back. Breakfast is also a slow affair, even though the meal is simple: pop tarts and coffee. Eventually, House makes it to the hospital, twirling his cane as he slips into his office.

There are no new cases and he doesn't want to bother with clinic duty, so House locks the door and settles himself into his chair. As soft music comes from his iPod, the diagnostician is fully prepared for a nap.

**Lust**

It doesn't matter that he some sort of yet to be defined relationship going on with Wilson, Cuddy's breasts fascinate House. He has his face to hers, but his mind is not on the lecture she is giving him on ethics. Like some immature twelve year old, House wants to point and giggle, 'Boobies!'

Slowly, the thoughts become more adult. Despite the fact they're in part of the children's ward, House can't keep his mind from thinking things about his boss that are borderline pornographic.

"House!" Cuddy snaps, "Are you even paying attention to me?"

When House responds with a lewd comment about a woman and what she'd be willing to do to sooth a crippled man's suffering, Cuddy throws her hands up in the air and leaves. House follows her, his gait stiffer than usual.

**Greed**

House glares the tray of cookies, candy, and punch, as if the treats have mortally offended him. He knows that he can't have any and that only makes it work. Nurses and a few doctors set up the tray for blood donors and the sick.

Normally, House would have taken some anyway. However, it's Halloween and bunch of kids are in the clinic after doing God knows what to impress their friends and then injuring themselves. They all watch as he hobbles around, picking up different files and collecting patients.

A doctor stealing the candy from the sick is usually frowned upon, so House bribes a fourteen year old to get him a Kit-Kat bar, in exchange for removing a naked Barbie doll from where it is crazy glued into his scalp.

Later, when the room thins out, House stuffs two more handfuls of candy into his pockets and shoves a cookie into his mouth.

**Wrath**

When House founds out the name of the new nurse, (Kelsey Jones) he is positively ecstatic. Both Wilson and Cuddy are suspicious, but don't ask because they know they won't get answers. So, House puts his plans for world domination aside and focuses only on Kelsey. (Or as he now calls her, Blonde Bimbo Who Needs To Suffer, or B.B. for short.)

At first, it's harmless things. Stealing her pens and setting her up for subscriptions to naughty websites and magazines, for the most part. The nurse seems unfazed and that bugs House. Next, he steps it up a notch. He goes out of his way to hit her shin with hid cane whenever he sees her, but somehow she always smiles and apologizes like she felt nothing.

Finally, desperate to see her truly upset, House leaves a note to B.B. on her windshield.

'_Dearest Darlingest Kelsey, You're so beautiful when you sleep. Go ahead and lock your windows, it adds some fun for me. By the way, you're out of milk. Love, Your Very Secret Admirer'_

When B.B. turns in her two week's notice the next day, House can't keep the evil grin off his face.

**Pride**

House has always been a proud man, his infarction only made this more so. He wanted no one's pity and as little help as possible. He is always right, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a complete moron.

So when Wilson offers to help him get up the icy stairs, House refuses. Wilson rolls his eyes, "House, ice plus cane usually equals bad. Stop being so stubborn!"

"I'm not being stubborn," House replies, "You're being stupid! Just 'cause I use a cane doesn't mean I need you to help me with everything."

The oncologist rubs the bridge of his nose; "I'm not trying to help you with everything. The stairs are covered in ice. You could slip and break your collarbone. Just let me help you for once."

"If both my legs worked perfectly fine, you wouldn't offer help!" House responds in a tersely, "You'd assume I could handle it, which I can! I don't need your help, so go get your Boy Scout good deed of the day down by getting an old lady across the street or something."

"Fine," Wilson says, "Do it yourself. I'm going in, the door will be unlocked."

"Fine," House says, turning away from the other man.

Wilson goes in, making sure House notices he used the handrail. As soon as the door shuts, House gets out of the car, where he had been sitting. Haughtily, he flounces along the sidewalk and up the stairs. Handrails, he decides, are for losers.

Later, House calls the apartment and a frantic Wilson answers, "Where are you?"

"Emergency room," House's voice is static-y, "These morons say I need to have you pick me up. Apparently, people with stitches can't go in taxis. Weird, huh?"

Wilson drives to the hospital, with a long lecture and hot coffee waiting for House in the car. House takes the drink, but zones out as Wilson rants about his display of arrogance and stubbornness.

The speech winds down dramatically, (_'you're an idiot! And if you think I'm letting you anywhere near those stairs again by yourself until they've been salted, I'm taking you back to the hospital to check for brain damage and next time call sooner, you moron!'_) by the time they return to the apartment.

'_I'm not wrong. I'm just humoring him.'_ House tells himself as a hand on the small of his back guides him up the stairs.


	2. Virtue

**A/N: Yeah, I suck at the update thing. Comments? Concrit?**

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"_**And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm."**_** -John Dryden**

**Faith**

House is a bastard. He is a drug addict and will try and push Wilson until something shatters. Things have shattered and been repaired chaotically. After all, Tritter is still fresh in both of their minds. Wilson knows House doesn't trust him completely, and he can't blame him.

So, as House plays his game in order to find a new team, Wilson trusts that he knows what he's doing. Yes, it's insane, but House always was a mad genius of sorts and could handle it. When House fries himself, Wilson prescribes painkillers and leaves. He goes home to a hotel and cries.

Wilson trusts House to be in control of what he does. The thought of House accepting the chance that his experiment in 'almost killing himself' might end up as actual suicide frightens him. Wilson allows his confidence to falter, briefly.

**Hope**

Cancer patients almost always have some chance of survival. From children who learn to walk in-between radiation treatments to grandmothers with skin like leather and stories to tell. They all could beat it. So when he explains to Mrs. Martin that her son, Eric, has come out of remission for the second time, they both know that statistics are against them.

When Eric fails to respond to both chemo and radiation, Wilson knows the chances are grim. The boy refuses to eat most of the time and rarely talks. Mrs. Martin spends most of her time in the chapel, praying to someone only she knows.

Still, Wilson smiles when he sees either of them. Eric might be the long shot who beats the odds.

**Charity**

House complains about how willingly he opens his heart and wallet to others. Wilson doesn't care and tosses another dollar in the donation bin just to piss him off. Money is money, in Wilson's opinion. You can't take it with you when you're gone and when you have it you only worry about it.

He'd rather give it to someone who can't afford rent. People who are staring enviously in huddled masses at him when he walks by in the dead of winter. Children who are dirty and forgotten as they scatter like alley cats. Wilson wants to help them, but they are stubborn and would happily bite the hand that feeds them.

A few have refused his money. Most take it cautiously, looking for the con. It's to these people he gives more. It's in these people's faces that his brother's features linger in.

**Fortitude**

Being a doctor takes its toll on Wilson. He's chosen a particularly draining specialty, and he's a department head. Wilson is also friends with House, but recently they've toed the gray line of 'friends' and 'something else entirely'. At age thirty-six, Wilson is balancing all this with a smile for everyone.

When he was in his first year of residency, a girl asked if he was Super-Man. Wilson had told her he couldn't fly, but she seemed pleased with his answer. Her name was Alice and she had been six years old. For Christmas she gave him a tie with the Super-Man logo and said that she wouldn't tell anyone his real identity. She was the first patient Wilson ever lost.

Now, Wilson envisions her electric blue eyes staring up with admiration whenever is grows weary of life. His burden becomes lighter.

**Justice**

As he writes a script for House, he no longer feels guilty. The universe, in simplest terms, has been a total bitch to the older man. Wilson remembers when House was, well not cheery per say, but at least he hadn't been so bitter.

Then came The Infarction. (In his mind, Wilson sees this event as colossal. He feels it deserves to be capitalized.) After The Infarction came, Stacey went. House broke farther away from society. Wilson pities him. Volger came, then Stacey, and finally Tritter. House seems to be overwhelmed. Wilson watches as his friend suffers.

It only seems fair to help House. If prescriptions were the only way to ease the pain, how can Wilson deny him?

**Temperance**

Wilson likes to imagine himself as Mr. Nice Guy. (Someone has to counter-react House's permanent state of PMS.) Still, there are sometimes when he wishes he could just smack people. The list of those people include: House, Volger, House, Stacey, House, Tritter, and, naturally, House.

When a Kelsey, a new nurse, asks Wilson to help her find the cafeteria, he agrees. The girl now will work in his department, so it can't hurt to be nice, right? They chat as they go through the lunch line. When they find a table, Wilson pretends that he doesn't see House stalking them.

Over time, he notices that Kelsey seems to linger when she walks in on Wilson with a patient. Soon, she asks him out. On a date. In which she hopes to talk about things that don't involve patient charts.

Wilson turns her down, politely, but she is a stubborn thing and continues to pursue. After a few weeks of this, Wilson is almost ready to add her to his _Smacking List_. He doesn't though, hell, he doesn't even say anything remotely mean.

Kelsey turned in her resignation paperwork.

**Prudence**

They are in some bar, in what might be the worst part of Jersey. (And that's saying something.) Wilson watches carefully as House orders drink after drink. The oncologist himself is satisfied with soda.

The bar is practically empty, only a few lonely souls remain on the other side of the large room. _Large, dark room_, Wilson thinks as he slides closer to House, _A large dark room, where no one would notice a pair of guys slip into the bathroom for a little bit._

Still, not everyone understands, so Wilson waits until they get home to pin House up against a wall.


End file.
